Kinship Caregiver Law Project

MFY prevents foster care placements and keeps children with relatives.

The Kinship Caregiver Law Project helps to provide legal stability to hundreds of families each year through representation in custody, guardianship and adoption matters, access to public benefits, and in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases. The Project also represents caregivers in Family Court and administrative proceedings aimed at preventing a child’s entry into the traditional foster care system.

In New York City, approximately 200,000 children are being raised by grandparents, other relatives and friends because their biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for them. By formalizing these relationships, MFY’s Kinship Caregiver Law Project promotes children’s wellbeing and helps to secure additional supports for caregivers, all of which prevents children from entering the foster care system. In addition to handling custody, guardianship, and visitation cases, Project attorneys train private pro bono lawyers from well-established law firms and corporations to provide assistance in adoption proceedings. Project attorneys provide advice and counsel to caregivers who call the Project’s hotline and meet directly with caregivers at regularly held clinics at Family Court in the Bronx and at community-based organizations.

The Kinship Caregiver Law Project receives generous support from the New York Community Trust, the Ira W. DeCamp Foundation, and Greenberg Traurig LLP.

Stabilizing Families

Ms. J. contacted MFY for help just days after her mother succumbed to an AIDS-related illness. At the time of her death, Ms. J.'s mother was the primary caregiver for Ms. J.'s 11-year-old brother and 15-year-old cousin. Both children had acute mental illness, and the older child needed ongoing medical care for a chronic illness. Without a legal order of guardianship, Ms. J. was unable to secure mental health services and other urgent treatment for the children.

Ms. J. also needed help stabilizing her housing situation and becoming the children's representative payee for Social Security benefits. While MFY assisted her with these matters, one of the children was improperly denied access to his public school following an accident. MFY advised Ms. J. on the child's rights and reached out to the Department of Education to secure the child's access to school.

Ms. J. was subject to several lengthy court delays and experienced improper judicial hostility to the family's HIV-affected status as well as the client's desire to serve as the children's caregiver. Nevertheless, MFY obtained a final order of guardianship for Ms. J. and helped negotiate a secure placement for Ms. J.'s cousin with a family member. MFY's advice also helped the family to avoid eviction during the particularly sensitive time period following the death of Ms. J.'s mother.